LLWS Thread 2009

[DanOregon]

I've been catching a few games and aside from the usual junior gargantuans - I'm struck by how small some of the teams are. One team came from a 33-player three team league, and some of the other teams made it to Williamsport from similar smaller leagues.
As admirable as it is to see underdogs get to the LLWS, I get the feeling that some of the teams were just swimming in smaller pools and LL isn't as big as it used to be or is it just the expansion of the LLWS?
Has anyone noticed a decline in LL participation in their neck of the woods?

 

[ScribePharisee]

From the looks of the Kentucky team that curiously competed in the "Great Lakes" region rep even though Kentucky touches none of the Great Lakes, and looked so good against SoCal yesterday, it seems as though most of the Midwest went broke due to the economy and didn't field a team.

 

[Bob Cook]

I don't have the numbers handy, but LL has seen a decline. It's got competition from Pony, Ripken and, most of all, the local travel league, which is taking a lot of the "best" players away from Little League. On the other hand, there are locations where they are clamoring to bring in Little League. Most notably, Sioux Falls and other cities in eastern South Dakota, which are tired of seeing Rapid City get all the Little League glory year after year. Seriously. However, the Ripkens are announcing non-LL championships on MLB TV this month, so LL won't even have claim to being the only ones on television.

My son's baseball league is Pony, and my daughter's softball is American Youth Softball Association.

By the way, about one-quarter of LL's budget is covered courtesy of the ESPN/ABC deal.

 

[ScribePharisee]

All these other organizations looked at LLWS and said "why can't we compete?"

Now you have multiple level national championships per age grou. It's ridiculous. A "national" tournament in a USSSA, ASA, Super Series or some other organizations could be made of teams from a single metro area. It's a joke they call these national tournaments.

 

[Bob Cook]

All these other organizations looked at LLWS and said "why can't we compete?"

Now you have multiple level national championships per age grou. It's ridiculous. A "national" tournament in a USSSA, ASA, Super Series or some other organizations could be made of teams from a single metro area. It's a joke they call these national tournaments.

Everybody gets a trophy, right?

Actually, even in this economy, a lot of people have figured out you can't go broke exploiting parents' desire to get that blessed, bloody college athletic scholarship.

 

[ScribePharisee]

Which most find out they're saddled with a partial scholarship from spring sports. One little league tournament person who has made a living hosting these tournaments laughed about all this, saying if these rabid parents chose instead to take the amount of money they spend financing a little league career, traveling four months a year and all that ****, and put in a savings account, they could damn near pay for a college education. Instead, they pay her. And she's grateful.

 

[JBHawkEye]

Which most find out they're saddled with a partial scholarship from spring sports. One little league tournament person who has made a living hosting these tournaments laughed about all this, saying if these rabid parents chose instead to take the amount of money they spend financing a little league career, traveling four months a year and all that ****, and put in a savings account, they could damn near pay for a college education. Instead, they pay her. And she's grateful.

I've always said that. These parents throw so much cash around going to these meaningless tournaments every weekend, rather than saving it.

There are kids in our area who play Little League, plus play on traveling teams. There are a lot of young arms being abused.

 

[JBHawkEye]

All these other organizations looked at LLWS and said "why can't we compete?"

Now you have multiple level national championships per age grou. It's ridiculous. A "national" tournament in a USSSA, ASA, Super Series or some other organizations could be made of teams from a single metro area. It's a joke they call these national tournaments.

USSSA and ASA are the biggest scams around. "Qualifying" for these "national" tournaments often means just paying an entry fee. A couple of years ago, we had an area team win one of these "World Series." I looked up what you had to do to qualify, and one of the requirements was, "Play in a USSSA-sanctioned tournament." Wow, that's an exclusive club of teams that get to play in the World Series.

A few years ago we had an ASA team "qualify" for a national tournament (one of four) by finishing sixth in a 12-team tournament. The "national" tournament was on the West Coast. Half the parents wanted to try to raise money to go. Fortunately, common sense prevailed, and they realized that a.) they couldn't afford to go to the tournament and b.) the parents couldn't take time off work to go.

We got an e-mail this year about a youth baseball tournament where the entry fee was $450. Oh, and teams couldn't bring into the ballpark any drinks — Gatorade, bottled water, etc. — other than Powerade, because the tournament organizer had a "exclusive arrangement." The press release said teams could buy Powerade from the concession stand. I can't remember the price, but I think it was twice was a case would usually cost at a store.

 

[playthrough]

All I know is that this is the second Sunday night that I've been ready to watch NHRA drag racing on ESPN2 and this stuff has run way over. Tonight I remembered to tell the DVR to record until 2 p.m. tomorrow just in case.

 

[Del_B_Vista]

Ocean Springs and Biloxi are two of a handful of Little League programs in the state, so they frequently go to the regional. Within the past couple of years, one got close to Williamsport (regional finals or semis). Mississippi has the additional Little League competitor of Dixie Youth, which has its own "World Series" featuring a handful of states. There's a lot of Babe Ruth and Ripken played around here, also, though.

 

[Blitz]

We've got a team from San Antonio, maybe the first ever from here, called McAllister Park that's posted two routs for a fine start to the tourney.
Another team from Ramstein Air Base in Germany has a kid on it who formerly played here in the McAllister league.
(His father transferred to Germany)
There was a nice package of stories in today's Express-News about the situation:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/

 

[qtlaw]

There's a brother of one of my boy's friend who is a stud but who chose to skip his last (12yr old) year of LL to play exclusively travel ball. Mom told me it was because he did not think that the coaching would be that great and since the talent level would be lower than playing with the traveling squad. That may be true but damn, that means giving up the last chance to make Williamsport.

When I was a kid that was the penultimate, getting to Williamsport. When I was 11 we made the Regional semi-finals for California, so we were only 2 games away. Hard to imagine giving that up.

 

[poindexter]

There's a brother of one of my boy's friend who is a stud but who chose to skip his last (12yr old) year of LL to play exclusively travel ball. Mom told me it was because he did not think that the coaching would be that great and since the talent level would be lower than playing with the traveling squad. That may be true but damn, that means giving up the last chance to make Williamsport.

When I was a kid that was the penultimate, getting to Williamsport. When I was 11 we made the Regional semi-finals for California, so we were only 2 games away. Hard to imagine giving that up.

I get the feeling that any good kids in our area (southern California) are playing travel ball, PONY, or Cal Ripken league.

The LL rules are so stunted regarding leading off, steals, etc. JMO, but Little League is looked at as the short bus brand of baseball). I could be wrong.

 

[Armchair_QB]

There's a brother of one of my boy's friend who is a stud but who chose to skip his last (12yr old) year of LL to play exclusively travel ball. Mom told me it was because he did not think that the coaching would be that great and since the talent level would be lower than playing with the traveling squad. That may be true but damn, that means giving up the last chance to make Williamsport.

When I was a kid that was the penultimate, getting to Williamsport. When I was 11 we made the Regional semi-finals for California, so we were only 2 games away. Hard to imagine giving that up.

I get the feeling that any good kids in our area (southern California) are playing travel ball, PONY, or Cal Ripken league.

The LL rules are so stunted regarding leading off, steals, etc. JMO, but Little League is looked at as the short bus brand of baseball). I could be wrong.

Which is a shame if it is true.

 

[RedHotChiliPrepper]

Even the teams in Williamsport play Babe Ruth league after their 12th birthday. There's a team from Williamsport in the 13 tear old Babe Ruth series right now. There was also a team from Williamsport in the big league world series this tear which really makes me wonder just how tough the competition is.

 

[RayKinsella]

Poindexter hit the nail on the head. A lot of 12 year olds see PONY ball and think it may help them when they get to high school. (I asked a coach if he could tell the difference between a kid who played Pony and a kid who played LL, he said no).

As for RHCP, you are dead right. Once they are 13, the talent level and competition goes way down. Depending on where you live, they pretty much leave LL and go to PONY (many leagues have it set up where LL is a feeder system into PONY), or Babe Ruth or just travel ball.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Even the teams in Williamsport play Babe Ruth league after their 12th birthday. There's a team from Williamsport in the 13 tear old Babe Ruth series right now. There was also a team from Williamsport in the big league world series this tear which really makes me wonder just how tough the competition is.

Big League is part of the Little League umbrella.

 

[ScribePharisee]

I just can't wait though for ESPN Junior....no doubt coming to a cable company near you soon. All kids sports, all the time.

 

[Bob Cook]

This year is the only the second where two girls are playing in the LLWS -- one girl from Canada and one from Saudi Arabia.

SAUDI ARABIA?

(It's an American girl who plays on the oil company expatriate community team.)

 

[Walter_Sobchak]

The team from Dharhan, Saudi Arabia has been to Williamsport every year since 1999. Although I can't imagine the competition in its regional is particularly tough.